back to "sabbath" again

This thing about the practice of sabbath as a center piece of the journey of the Christian community continues to come back center for me. Not as an ought or a should, but seeing how the erosion of the spiritual center of much of Christian church life is due to many local churches and denominations accepting the terms of the culture and particularly the business model of the culture as the way to be productive and to accomplish. Ironically, I just read a note on Facebook by another local church pastor that now the business community has caught up with the church community in facing empty coffers.

I have read both Eugene Peterson and Abraham Heschel about sabbath and have posted in the past months on their comments. I started reading yesterday morning (Sunday) before the worship service in my study the book "Sabbath Time: Understanding and Practice for Contemporary Christiasns" by Tilden Edwards. I am copying below some comments in describing the book. This and the book by Brian McLaren "Finding Our Way Again: The Return of the Ancient Practices" about recovering our ancient worship and spiritual practices as a daily piece of our life, I think are the stream that much of the church needs to pay attention to. We still need to focus on social justice and organizational life as well as our method of education and stewardship and so on, but I think we have lost our center. Thus we have lost our identity not just as individuals, but as a church. We as the church no longer have anything to communicate or offer different from any other secular organization in our society because we try to live part of our life using the terms of the culture, and then put a spiritual veneer over it.

Well, here is the one summary of Edwards books from a book review at Spirituality Practice.

Edwards begins with a description of the sabbath as an alternative to the drivenness of contemporary 24/7 culture. In both the Jewish and Christian traditions, this holy day anchors the rhythm of time. The author discusses the sabbath as a day of rest, a commemoration of liberation, a sign of covenant, and a sign of hope. Best of all, it offers a surcease from the pressures of achievement in the work arena and the mind-numbing escapism of so much contemporary entertainment. Edwards goes on to examine some the factors that have eroded this oasis in time, specifically individualism and a devaluation of the contemplative.

Sabbath time offers a release from our normal routines and work while also delivering us into a free space where reverence, play, laughter, a celebration of the arts, relaxation, and quiet contemplation take center stage. We especially like the following passage where Edwards salutes the value of intention and the Sunday morning service: "Corporate worship, in order to be its intended self, needs to be surrounded by a protective time zone, a time of preparation and reflection, of quiet openness with nothing to do except appreciate the presence of God in the smallest random thing in and around us. If this is done, then corporate worship is more likely to become a radiant crystal whose facets catch up all of life in God's light, placed in the midst of a velvet Sabbath bed that sets it off. Without such surrounding sabbath time, worship more likely will resemble an opaque rock that reveals nothing of life's giftedness and integrity in God, only our own rushed anxiety."

In four practical chapters, Edwards outlines how Christians can deepen their experience of the sabbath, stretching from dinner on Saturday evening through sundown on Sunday evening. He covers rituals, silences, readings, and blessings. This classic resource ably demonstrates how, as Edwards puts it, "an understanding and living of sabbath time can help support a sane and holy rhythm of life for us."

(United Church of Christ, sabbath)